Britain's MI5 nearly enlisted a number of al-Qaeda operatives before barring them from the security service on suspicion, a senior British parliamentarian speculates, Press TV reported.
On Saturday, Conservative MP Patrick Mercer said in 2005 the MI5 was somewhere down the recruiting process of the six men when it suspected their backgrounds, AFP reported.
The recruitment was taking place as the service was diversifying its counterterrorism endeavors after the London bombings.
Two of the men had reportedly attended militant training sessions in Pakistan and others had 'unexplained' no-shows on their resumes.
"What concerns me is not all these individuals ... have necessarily been nailed," added Mercer, who runs the parliamentary counter-terrorism subcommittee.
"I would like some clarification from the government to see how successful we've been at detecting them."
The intelligence body is already in hot waters over its alleged facilitation of an American torture program. According to recently-released court papers, the MI5 would in cases interrogate the alleged terror suspects in illegal US custody.
...